Jump Start Foundation founder Matthew Colantonio (far left), co-founder Brian Wysocki (center), and member Meagan Murphy (far right) present $10,000 donation for Mercy Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to Dr. Swarna Devarajan Director of Neonatology & Newborn Services. Looking on (from left) are NICU nurses Laura Jackson, RN, Kathy Ellmer, RN, Sue Forestiero, RN and Marion Weber, RN. The high school athletics group has now donated $91,000 to support the only Level III NICU on Nassau County's south shore. Members of the Jump Start Foundation visited Mercy Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on April 5th to present a check for $10,000, bringing the high school athletics group's support for the special facility for premature and sick newborns to $91,000.

Swarna Devarajan, MD, Director Neonatology & Newborn Services, accepted the gift and conducted a tour to provide the teenagers with an up-close look at the high-tech equipment and specially-trained staff that their donations help to support.

Mercy's facility is the only Level III NICU on Nassau County's south shore, a designation from the New York State Department of Health signifying that Mercy can provide complex care for all premature babies and newborns with post-delivery complications.

The Jump Start Foundation (www.jumpstartfoundation.org) was established in 2003 as the only local organization directly supporting neonatal diseases. Founder Matthew Colantonio, who attends Chaminade High School, spent the first weeks of his life in a NICU. With the help of six friends on his baseball and soccer teams, one of whom also began life in a NICU, he created a charitable organization that raises funds to support Mercy Medical Center's services for sick newborns through activities that combine athletic events with community service. They chose the name Jump Start because the babies in a NICU are premature and sick newborns who need a jump-start on life, the way a weakened car battery needs a jump-start to get going.